Commercialization of a Green Process by Renewable Electricity for Hydrogen and Syngas Productions

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More than 51 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases are globally emitted to the atmosphere per year. Developing a net zero carbon dioxide emission economy by 2050 and cost-competitive hydrogen production processes by 2030 are two crucial missions of Canada. Carbon dioxide and methane are primary elements of greenhouse gas emissions. In this research project, we aim at commercialization of a sustainable process for hydrogen and syngas, i.e., a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, productions. In addition to substantial role of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier, syngas is the building block of many valuable chemicals, e.g., methanol. Sustainable production of syngas and hydrogen will help Canada in advancing toward the mentioned missions. In catalytic dry reforming of methane, carbon dioxide and methane react to produce syngas. Well established technologies, such as pressure swing adsorption and membrane separation, are adopted to separate hydrogen from syngas. To supply the required heat for the catalytic dry reforming of methane, one could employ microwave heating, which could be coupled to renewable sources of electricity production. In a conventional scale-up approach, one addresses technical and economical commercialization challenges of a technology by moving sequentially from laboratory to pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale. By employing a novel iterative scale-up approach developed at Process Engineering Advanced Research Lab of Polytechnique Montreal, this research project will address all technical and economic challenges of commercialization of this green technology by laboratory and pilot scale investigations, as well as modeling/simulation activities. Successful implementation of the project's key results at commercial scale will help Canada boost its economy and achieve its net carbon emission and hydrogen economy goals.